Westport School Committee grapples with future of school buildings

Sunday

Aug 6, 2017 at 6:58 PMAug 6, 2017 at 6:58 PM

By Jeffrey D. Wagner, Herald News

WESTPORT — The School Committee voted to form an ad hoc committee to explore how to use the current junior/senior high school building if voters at the end of this year approve a new grades 5 through 12 school building on Old County Road.

In related moves, the committee voted to move the central administration and maintenance staff from the current high school buildings to other locations. The Macomber Primary School building or modulars appear to be the leading candidates for use for central administration offices.

After a School Building Committee meeting last Wednesday and then a separate School Committee meeting on the same night, architect Jonathan Levi updated the public on plans for the new building, which should go before the state School Building Authority in early fall. He mentioned that the new building comes with areas to house trucks and other large equipment used for the school’s maintenance department.

Levi mentioned that using the new building to house central maintenance would not expand the square footage of the building far beyond the MSBA-approved 185,600 square foot figure. The size would be around 185,800 square feet.

Levi also toured the Macomber Primary School and identified three classrooms, with ample light and space, to house the central administration office, business, human resources and special education offices. That space would use current partitions that are in place to create the offices, which would fit into 2,500 square feet. Director of Facilities Michael Duarte and his staff would be able to complete the conversion in-house.

The space would be freed up because the current Westport Elementary School would likely become a grades 1 through 4 school, instead of a 3 through 6 school. The Macomber Primary School would be converted into a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten school, which had previously served as its grade configuration.

When prompted by School Committee Chairwoman Margot DesJardins, Levi conceded that the central administration office’s move to Macomber would not be a good long-term solution. DesJardins said she was looking for solutions that would address all building needs in the district for the next 30 to 50 years.

Levi said he does not think that Macomber would last that long.

Superintendent Ann Marie Dargon gave a presentation and made recommendations of her own. She recommended that Macomber indeed become a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten school, WES become a Grade 1 through 4 school, while the new building would address grades 5 through 12.

Dargon recommended that central administration either move to Macomber, move to the current modular building adjacent to that school building or work with the town toward leasing space elsewhere.

Dargon provided cost analysis of all the options. She mentioned that if the town were to discontinue using the modulars once the lease expires, it would cost around $113,070, according to current costs. It would cost around $325,000 to buy the building once the lease expires. The downside — modulars last 10 to 20 years, according to estimates she received.

Dargon said the Fairhaven School District leases a residential home for administration offices and Westport could also work with the town on that option.

Meanwhile, some officials staunchly opposed reusing the high school for school grades. This led to an approved motion that the School Committee does not anticipate using the high school building for grades kindergarten through Grade 12 if the district is successful in building a new school for the 2020-2021 school year.

Committee member Antonio Viveiros said he would support any motion that would consider the abandonment of the current high school for education purposes.

School Building Committee Chairwoman Dianne Baron said using the high school for education purposes would be “illogical” and send mixed message to the public.

“Why hang onto a building like this?” she asked.

By the end of the year, voters will be asked to approve a bond for the new school building, with the MSBA reimbursing around half the costs for a new building and for razing the former middle school, which has not been used by the district since the 2014-15 school year.